Ex-Barclays team launches Glasgow boutique with SC Davies

Two former investment managers from Barclays have joined forces to launch a Glasgow-based investment firm, backed by boutique SC Davies.

David Macneil and David Ridland, who both formerly worked on Barclays’ Glasgow investment management team, have founded Castlebay Investment Partners.

The boutique is an appointed representative of London-based investment firm SC Davies, which is providing back office support.

The new venture offers direct UK equity and multi-asset mandates to private clients and charities. On the direct equity side, the firm uses a proprietary tool to screen UK stocks on a value basis, targeting companies with sustainable cashflows and high barriers to entry. ‘If I had to sum up, I would say the companies we like are high quality with a margin of safety,’ Ridland explained.

With markets at their current levels, he said direct equity portfolios were 60-70% invested, with the remaining cash on the sidelines ready to deploy if valuation opportunities arise.

Castlebay charges a 1.2% management fee on the first £1 million invested, which then drops to 1% over £2 million and then 0.8% for £3 million plus.

The company has no set investment minimums for clients, with Macneil commenting that they ‘want to work with people they can add value to and grow with’.

‘A lot of credibility and trust has been lost in the industry. We would not buy something for clients that we would not buy for ourselves. Our independent ownership structure allows us to make our own decisions,’ he added.

Macneil left Barclays in May this year after seven years at the bank, and had previously worked at Gerrard Investment Management, which was taken over by Barclays in 2003.

Ridland, meanwhile, had been at Barclays since September 2008 up to March of this year. Prior to this he worked as a fund manager at Ignis Asset Management.

Since the duo left Barclays, the bank’s wealth division has undergone significant change under new chief Peter Horrell with a 35% reduction to private banker headcount, a regional management overhaul and a less intensive service level offered to clients with less than £500,000.

Clients served by the bank’s new division will have an unregulated individual appointed as their main point of contact.

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